Suspect in deadly Midtown Atlanta shootings speaks up after judge asks her to be silent during hearing
The woman accused of shooting three people and sending offices into lockdown in midtown Atlanta on Monday has been denied bail.
Raïssa Kengne, 34, appeared before a court in Tuesday afternoon accused of assaulting three people with a firearm and killing two of them, and was ordered to remain in detention.
The first attack took place at Ms Kengne’s luxury condo complex, with a second bout of gunfire erupting minutes later at an office building four blocks away.
Michael Shinners, 60, a building manager in Ms Kengne’s luxury condo complex, died at the scene, while Wesley Freeman, 41, who seems to have been a former colleague of Ms Kengne, died later in hospital.
While police are still probing the motive of the shooting, Ms Kengne appears to have made a series of LinkedIn posts and filed a lawsuit accusing Mr Freeman and her building managers of conspiring against her.
Officers said they believed the victims had been targeted specifically.
Claims of burglary and retaliation
The accusations in Raïssa Kengne’s lawsuit are a little hard to follow, but in essence she alleged that her former employer, BDO, retaliated against her for raising concerns about deficiencies in its audits.
According to 11 Alive, her lawsuit says the company ignored her and eventually offered her a 12 per cent salary raise, which she interpreted as an attempt to buy her off.
After that, Ms Kengne alleged, BDO began conspiring with a wide range of other figures including her condo building manager and her former lawyers to retaliate against her.
For example, she claimed that someone used a copy of her condo key to break into her home and steal evidence from her safe, leading her to suspect that Beacon Management Services, her building manager, was involved.
But judging by videos posted on her LinkedIn page, Atlanta police did not take her report seriously. The city’s police department told 11 Alive that it had classified Ms Kengne’s case as a non-crime.
The Independent has asked BDO and Beacon for comment.
Lauren Io Dodds24 August 2022 06:24
‘Not enough evidence’
Raïssa Kengne’s lawsuit was in trouble. According to her complaint, she attempted to engage a law firm, but was rebuffed after “several months” and “many questions” because “they did not have enough evidence to pursue the case”.
She searched Georgia for other lawyers, and even flew to Washington, DC to meet with others (her tickets are included in her lawsuit as evidence), to no avail.
Instead she represented herself, and named her previous lawyers as defendants in the suit.
Io Dodds24 August 2022 05:17
Suspect was reportedly fighting foreclosure
Atlanta broadcaster 11 Alive has done a deep dive into Raïssa Kengne’s 407-page lawsuit, as well as other legal filings relating to her life.
Although a judge on Tuesday told Ms Kengne that she does not qualify for a taxpayer-funded lawyer, she reportedly told a different court that she has less than $3,000 in savings and no income.
The report says Ms Kengne owns land, an abandoned house, and her condo in midtown Atlanta, but that she has been fighting to prevent the house being foreclosed upon and to get electricity turned back on at the condo.
Io Dodds24 August 2022 04:10
No court date set for Kengne’s next appearance
A court date has not yet been set for Raïssa Kengne’s next appearance before a judge, Fox 5 Atlanta reported on Tuesday.
The woman accused of killing two people and injuring one in a shooting spree in midtown Atlanta on Tuesday appeared briefly before a magistrate to hear the warrant against her and be denied bail.
Io Dodds24 August 2022 03:02
‘Wes will be deeply missed’
The accounting company where shooting victim Wesley Freeman worked has sent a bulletin to employees mourning his loss.
According to a screenshot posted by an employee on the anonymous social…